Athena's arrow
by Sherry Furude
Summary: Sherry's pride is sorely hurt when she's sent on a mission as no less (and no more) than a trophy wife for Gin. However, a mystery soon unfolds, and she will have to rack her brains if she wants to solve the crime… and save both Gin and herself. GinSherry murder mystery. Part of my Mission Saga.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** The entire _Detective Conan_ series belong to **Gosho Aoyama**. This is a **non-profit fan work**.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Gin's office was about the size of a regular bedroom. The fact that he had even been assigned one derived merely from his high rank, not from a real need – not for a man who spent quite a notable share of his working hours on a car, driving from one target to the other.

But he did drop by the office now and then. He apparently deemed it more of a comfortable and appropriate place to carefully plan his next missions in than the black Porsche or his oblivious, cozy apartment (the private and professional selves ought not to be mixed up, especially in the case of an assassin). What else he did there, other than the casual meeting with a member or two, remained a mystery to Sherry's otherwise brilliant mind.

Although she knew herself to be his most frequent visitor, there were many things Sherry did not fully understand regarding Gin himself and his office. And as hard as she tried to jokingly lie to herself, she knew when she stopped in the corridor that that wouldn't be the day she would finally lift the veil. It never was.

Indeed, not all her visits had purely professional purposes. Or professional purposes at all. But today's meeting did.

She knocked the door.

A muffled 'Come in' answered.

'You're here,' Gin stated when she walked in, rather matter-of-fact. 'Please take a seat.' His pale left hand pointed at the single chair before his desk.

Sherry sat down in silence, waiting for him to speak. After a moment, the man leaned closer to his visitor and grinned awkwardly at her.

'How are you? Doing alright?'

Sherry couldn't help a shocked frown.

'What?'

'Is everything going fine?' he insisted.

'How bad is it?'

Gin let out a sigh and fell back onto his chair.

'Is it that obvious?' he responded.

'To me, yes, it is,' Sherry clarified. She crossed her arms and relaxed her posture. 'I thought it was work.'

'It is,' Gin confirmed. He glanced at her. 'Mind if I smoke?'

'If you must.'

While the man helped himself to the pack of cigarettes that rested on the desk, Sherry had a good look at him and his office.

She had known Gin for longer than she cared to remember – longer than any other Organization member, at least. She could recognize him by the exact shade of his fair skin, identify him by the way the midday sun shone on his bright green eyes, tell his head apart from a multitude of other ash blondes. And she could read his feelings as reflected on his face and behavior way better than he could start to suspect.

She knew he felt stressed at the moment because of what he had to tell her. According to the text message she had received from their very superior, it was a matter of work, of a mission she had been assigned to. Being a scientist with rather mediocre self-defence skills, she didn't go on missions too often – but when she did, Gin was usually sent along to make sure she'd come back in once single piece.

Their superior obviously knew they were a couple. Why waste the best assassin of the Organization on working as her bodyguard every now and then, if not? Why reward them with the same days off and hotel nights for two in their favorite spots of the country whenever they were notably successful in their respective works? Not that she complained about that last long weekend in Fukuoka.

'It'll be in Beika,' Gin finally started. The first curls of smoke floated up from the cigarette he held in his left hand. Smoking calmed him down, Sherry knew. 'We'll go on my car, I know the way. I can pick you up at your place if you want.'

'What's there to do?' Sherry inquired.

'An exchange, you could call it.' Gin shrugged his shoulders. 'Nothing important. Some money and drugs.'

'Drugs?'

She would certainly call that 'important.'

'The man deals in them under the table, using his firm as a cover,' Gin explained. 'The Organization thinks they might be useful, if they're good enough, and so we need a sample. Nothing important, as I say. The money is to keep our mouths nicely shut on his affairs. Temporarily.'

'And what is my task, then?'

At her question, Gin took a long drag of his cigarette. Sherry raised an eyebrow. He felt uncomfortable.

'So my task is what's been worrying you?' she ventured. He fidgeted on his chair and averted his eyes. 'It is. What is it?'

'I…' he hesitated. 'Sherry, I had no word on the matter. I protested, but that didn't change anything…'

'Don't you come with apologies, not before I know what you're apologizing for.' She leaned closer to the man. 'Tell me, what is it this time? Corpses? Feces?'

'No!' Gin shook his head. He seemed repulsed. 'Nothing of that kind.'

'Blackmailing? Kidnapping?'

'No, it's… it's…' Gin bit his lip. 'It's nothing.'

'You know you say that too often, don't you?' Her elbows pressed against the surface of the desk. 'Come on, tell me, what is it?'

'It's nothing.'

'If it were nothing, you wouldn't be so…'

Gin's eyes met Sherry's and her sentence came to a halt.

'It's nothing,' he repeated calmly. 'Your task is to do simply nothing. You…' he sighed and tapped the desk uncomfortably with his free hand. 'You have been assigned to the mission as… as some sort of… of… trophy wife.'

It took Sherry a few seconds to actually process the information. No sooner than she did, her entire face blushed and her blue eyes opened wide.

'What?' she boomed.

'I know!' Gin turned his body fully to her. 'I protested, I find it as disrespectful as you do…'

'I won't go!' Sherry snapped. She stood up and hit the desk before her, startling Gin. 'A trophy wife!'

'I said you wouldn't agree, that another member be assigned,' Gin claimed, standing up after her, 'but apparently nobody else could, and 'that person' said you were the best choice…'

'The best choice?' she repeated with sarcasm, pacing the room back and forth. 'A _cum laude_ graduate, the head scientist of a revolutionary project nobody else had the brains to manage – the best choice for a trophy wife?'

'I argued the same!' he continued. 'But 'that person' said it had to do not with your skills, but with the chemistry between us, that we know each other, and… well,' he added shyly. His cheeks turned light pink, 'with your good looks…'

'And 'that person' thinks I am nothing but my looks?' she sneered. 'Who does 'that person' think spends day and night working on the APTX and has managed to speed up its development in spite of every odd being against it? My looks?'

'It's awful, I know,' Gin agreed. 'I protested, Sherry, but it was no use…'

'What on earth was 'that person' thinking? I won't go, I will not!'

'I'm afraid you don't have a choice.' Sherry stopped and gazed at Gin. The man had walked up to her and stood at her side. The cigarette still burned between his fingers. 'We don't. I neither want you to go nor want to go myself. I know it's unfair and awful, but there is really no choice. It's a mission, Sherry – and missions cannot be turned down. Especially not when coming from 'that person' directly. It's either we obey or…'

He did not need to finish his sentence out loud. She knew the politics of the Organization way too well.

Gently, the woman took a step closer to Gin and moved her arms around the waist of his black suit. Her face pressed against his chest.

'It's awful,' he whispered after a moment of silence.

'Worse has happened,' she judged. 'I'll go.'

Gazing across the room, Sherry located Gin's black coat hanging from the back of his chair. His hat waited on the desk.

'I'm sorry.'

'It's okay.'

The man laid a hand on her head. Sherry closed her eyes and pictured Gin's long fingers as they ran through her auburn hair.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

'Will it take much longer?'

'Not much, I swear. I know you're hating every minute of this…'

'You don't say...'

'… but could you please make a happier face? People will suspect.'

'Who will? This is an auction, Gin. It's not yet another trophy wife that people are supposed to pay attention to.'

Gin averted his eyes in a way which Sherry knew meant that he acknowledged his defeat. At the front of the crowded room, the white-haired auctioneer introduced the umpteenth piece of art of the day – a slender female figure made in stone.

'There's a good deal of them, actually,' Sherry marked in a whisper, her gaze flying through the other attendees.

Gin turned his head to her.

'Who?'

'Trophy wives. They're easy to tell apart. Pretty faces, latest fashion, pricy accessories. Look at the necklace that one's wearing,' she added at Gin's skpectical frown. He obeyed at once. 'Diamonds and white gold. And the one right behind her – exclusive Fusae purse.'

'How do you know they're diamonds?'

'The way they reflect the light.'

Gin nodded silently.

'And more importantly,' she continued, 'what really gives away trophy wives, what all those women share – their inactivity. They do not talk unless talked to, they do not bid in the auction. They only follow the man they've come with and smile. Like dolls. Human beings reduced to objects.'

'These men are that disgusting,' Gin agreed in a whisper, still glancing towards the crowd. He folded his arms. 'I hate this mission as much as you do, Sherry. I can't wait to get out of here. I suggested I meet the target somewhere else, but it was no use.'

'You're lucky I've come along, however – you would have looked suspicious otherwise. Do you see there are barely two or three men alone? One of which is our target.'

'We specifically ordered him to come alone,' Gin pointed out. He turned his head to the front of the room. Following the usual round of applause after the latest sale, the auctioneer had dropped his small wooden hammer and was giving a calm speech to the audience. 'The break,' Gin announced. 'Time to act.' The auctioneer fell silent and a crescendo of noise began – seats creaking as people stood up, hard soles hitting the floor, low voices chatting in a contant murmur, jewelry swinging against its wearers' skin. 'Now, as we said. We get up and exit the room, all…'

'…slowly, casually, without making waves,' she recited. 'I know.'

'Okay.' He peeped across the room. Sherry grabbed his arm and the two stood up. 'Our target's ready too, it seems. Let's go.'

Navigating the small crowd turned out to be easier that she had thought – maybe because most of it moved in their same direction. Over a dozen of people packed the narrow corridor when, following their plan, Gin and she stopped near the open doors of the room, waiting for their target to appear. It didn't take him longer than a few seconds.

Just as most males present at the auction, the man sported a suit, of a dark grey which contrasted with the deep black of Gin's. She judged he could be forty, forty-five at the most. Not that she cared. The man walked up to them and, to Sherry's surprise, pointed at her with a movement of his head.

'Who is she?'

Gin rested his free hand on Sherry's arm but didn't answer.

'I've come alone, as promised,' the target complained.

'I never said I'd do the same,' Gin replied. At the mere sound of his voice, Sherry could see their target shiver. 'You should have noticed already that we never work alone.'

'She's a member?' the man grunted with shock.

Gin arched an eyebrow.

'In our organization we value people's abilities, not their gender. But that's enough chitchat. Have you brought what we agreed on?'

The target nodded reluctantly.

'One million yen in one envelope and one hundred grams in the other,' he described as he pulled two identical white envelopes from a pocket on the inside of his jacket. Gin's black-gloved hands grabbed them discreetly and put them away into his own jacket.

'And no tricks, remember,' Gin warned. 'We'll notice, you know we will, and make you regret. Understood?' The target nodded again. 'You should, for your own good. We'll contact you again, and pray it is for the better. You don't want to make us angry…'

The man kept quiet, his shoulders tense and his entire body slightly hunched in fear, seemingly expecting him to go on. After a moment, however, Gin simply turned his back to him and left. Sherry followed, her arm tangled tight around Gin's. Out of the corner of the eye she could catch one last glimpse of their target's astonished face.

'Wasn't that too risky?' she asked once they had turned a few corners. 'Collecting the envelopes in a corridor full of people?'

'We were standing at the blind spot of the security camera,' Gin explained. 'The place is filled with them, actually.'

'I know, you told me. But what about the crowd?'

'The crowd is actually a plus for privacy – we're only two more attendees nobody would care to pay attention to. 'That person' knew the auction would be bursting through the seams.'

'Anyway, who on earth holds an auction in a hotel?' Sherry questioned as they reached the elevator. She called for it and, in a matter of seconds, the metallic doors opened to let she and Gin in. Luckily, it was empty. She pushed the button for the first floor.

'The place burnt a month ago. Not this hotel, of course, but wherever this whatever usually holds its auctions in.'

'You didn't do too deep of a research, it seems.'

'I didn't care much.'

Sherry grinned.

'Are you sure there will be no problem with the second envelope?' she asked in a more serious tone.

'The area is clear of cops.' Pointing at the pocket where she knew he kept his mobile phone, he added, 'Were any to approach the hotel, I would be informed. Anyway, I won't be carrying the envelope for much longer – it was arranged that I bring it to the laboratory in…'

Gin shut up. The doors of the elevator had opened and a group of people stopped at the threshold.

'Wait, it's going down?' a long-haired woman asked. The skirt of her dress twirled when she turned towards the rest of the group. 'We should take the stairs…'

'No way!' a second woman laughed. The half-full glass she held only served as further proof for Sherry's guessings on her current state, in addition to the blush of her cheeks and the child-like smile on her face. 'We're taking this elevator.'

'Where to?' a bearded man behind her questioned. 'The rooftop's on the highest floor, I remind you.'

'Ditch the rooftop!' the drunken woman replied, facing him. 'We'll smoke at the entrance.'

'But I'm not wearing my coat!' a younger man at her side complained. 'And it's freezing cold down there, Aki!'

'It's already cold in here, so who cares,' Aki argued. 'Smoking will help us warm up.' She emptied her glass in one long sip and took care to hide it behind a pot. The long-haired woman tried to stop her, only to receive a smack on the hand. 'Don't be such a party pooper, Kaori. It'll be fun – someone will find it and have no idea what it's d-doing there…'

'I'm going back,' the bearded man announced as Aki walked into the elevator. Sherry took a step closer to Gin to distance herself from the newcomer. 'I'm not putting up with that drunkard anymore.'

'What did you just call me?' Aki protested, turning clumsily to him.

'Don't leave, Tora' the long-haired woman begged. 'The more we are, the safer it is for her. Please.'

The bearded man sighed resignedly and followed her into the elevator. After an instant of apparent obliviousness, the younger man joined them. The metallic doors closed and the elevator resumed its slow descent.

'How long do you think they'll stay married?' the drunken woman spoke shortly afterwards in a drowsy voice. 'I bet they don't last one year.'

'Don't you say that!' the younger man whined. 'It's their wedding day!'

'And? You think I care?' she retorted. 'Not about those two, Jun. Not about those two…'

'Why did you come, then?' Tora inquired angrily. 'You hardly know two or three people apart from us and the bride! Why didn't you just stay at home if you did not care for a woman that considers you her friend?'

The long-haired woman held onto his jacket in an obvious attempt to catch the man's attention.

'Tora…'

'No, I won't let her behave in that way anymore!' he shouted. His loud voice resonated in the elevator. Sherry frowned, annoyed. Aki had moved a trembling hand to her forehead. 'You've done the same to every single person to ever show any affection or worry for you. Well, you can go to hell with your booze and stay there for eternity, you…'

A bell-like sound signaled they had reached the first floor and the doors of the elevator opened again. Aki took a step towards them, but stumbled and fell limp to the ground. Her head hit the polished floor of the hall with force enough for anyone else to have screamed, but the only sound heard was that of her chest meeting the doorsill.

Acting rather unconsciously, Sherry let go of Gin's arm and knelt down next to the drunken woman.

'Hey!' she shouted. 'Can you hear me? Can you hear me?'

The woman didn't respond. Sherry's fingers slid into her mouth, pressed against her neck and raised her eyelids.

'She's fainted!' the bearded man sneered. He crouched near her. 'What a novelty. If she didn't drink that much…'

'She hasn't simply fainted,' Sherry corrected him, rolling the woman to her side. 'She is comatose.'

'What?' the younger man shrieked.

'Low body temperature, decelerated pulse and breathing, loss of consciousness,' she enumerated, her eyes still on the body on the floor and under her hands. 'The symptoms show this is more than a blackout.' She looked up. The two men and the long-haired woman kept perfectly still, only staring at her in horror. 'What are you doing? Call an ambulance! And the police.'

'The police?' the bearded man repeated. Gin hadn't moved a single inch from where Sherry had left him at the back of the elevator. A serious frown darkened his features. 'Why the police?'

'A woman has just fallen comatose to the floor of this elevator – don't you think the police would like to find out exactly why?' The man didn't react. 'What on earth are you waiting for? Call the emergency services! Now!'

Startled, the bearded man hurried to draw a mobile phone from a pocket and dial. Sherry had one last look at the unconscious woman, stood up and approached Gin.

'The police are coming,' she muttered.

Gin exhaled and closed his eyes.

'We'll need to stay,' she continued. 'Leaving would do more harm than good.'

Gin nodded and opened his eyes. His gaze met hers.

'Stay calm,' she advised. 'I'll protect you, I swear on my life.'

'How?' he doubted with a sad grin. 'How are you going to prevent,' he lowered his voice, 'certain things from being found?'

Sherry rested her hands on his shoulders and felt the tension in his muscles. Her pulse speeded up.

'Nobody will even walk close to you. I will make sure that they leave as soon as possible.' Her voice became a whisper. 'I'm going to find out what's happened.'

* * *

 **A/N**

Yes, the only auction item is intentionally symbolic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Important announcement:** chapter 4 will be published on **Friday 24th February** instead of Sunday 26th. The rest of chapters will be published according to schedule, one per Sunday.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

'We need to make a phone call ourselves, don't we?'

Gin didn't answer. His gaze, Sherry knew, was fixed on the three strangers behind her – the two men and the woman staring at the motionless body on the ground.

'To tell we'll be late. We ought to phone before the police arrive. You know, they'll need our full attention.'

'Yes, yes. We should…'

'Everything will be okay.' At the sound of her voice, Gin seemed to come back to reality. 'Don't worry. May I phone myself?'

Gin nodded shyly and, searching in his coat for a moment, handed her his mobile phone. Sherry dialed the familiar number and waited.

An impersonal voice at the other side answered, 'Yes?'

'It's me.' She turned her back to Gin. The two men and the woman had approached the front desk and were speaking to a short hotel clerk in navy blue. 'We'll be late. Someone attending a wedding has fallen comatose and the police are coming to the hotel.'

'How exactly are you involved?'

'A shared elevator at the wrong moment. We'll need to stay.'

'You'd better keep quiet, or we'll make sure you do.'

The two men and the woman seemed to quarrel with the clerk.

'We'll keep quiet.'

'You'd better.'

Her interlocutor hung up.

'The usual advice,' Sherry sighed, returning the phone to its owner. 'Nothing new.'

'Do you think it's a murder?'

Gin's voice sounded so calm that Sherry couldn't help a face of surprise which, luckily, he didn't see. Maybe diverting his attention would help him relax. His silent façade could fool others, but not her – she knew fear shut him down. She strolled to the door of the elevator.

'Attempted murder. She is still not dead.' Still. She crouched to have a better view but took care not to even graze the body in the threshold. 'Either that or a suicide.' She studied the woman before her. What was her name? 'Not accidental, at least.'

'Why?'

'It would be too much of a coincidence. The human body is tougher than it seems – it's not that easy to fall into a coma.' She tilted her head to obtain a different angle. 'This is not the work of alcohol alone – it could, but only under very specific circumstances. Most likely, she's taken some sort of painkiller, or a sedative. I can't tell much more just by looking.' She stood up. 'But one thing is sure: this has been deliberate.'

No sooner than she had taken a single step away from the body, the sound of sirens sent a shiver down her spine. Out of the corner of the eye she noticed that Gin's figure had tensed up.

'Calm down,' she whispered. 'Everything will be okay.'

'I'm scared.'

The blue light that blazed into the hall of the hotel flashed onto Gin's face. Sherry held his hand. Despite the black glove, she could feel the warmth of his skin underneath.

'I'm scared.'

'Everything will be okay. Let's go.'

Sherry moved her arm around Gin's and the two walked out of the elevator. The noise of sirens flooded the hall. She could hardly hear her own agitated heartbeat.

A middle-aged woman was the first to enter the building, followed by a handful of younger police officers in pale-colored uniforms. She reached the front desk soon after Gin and Sherry. Meanwhile, a team of paramedics had rushed into the hall and followed a clerk towards the elevator.

'Police inspector Shiori Hayashi,' the woman introduced herself, showing her police badge and identification. 'Are you the ones who called?'

'I am,' the bearded man acknowledged.

'And your name, sir, is…?'

'Tora Tachibana. I'm an old friend of Aki's.'

'I assume that 'Aki' is the victim?'

'Aki Matsushita. She collapsed in the elevator.'

The inspector glanced around. Sherry focused on her own breath.

'You all were with her? Could you tell us your names and relationship to the victim?'

'My name's Kaori Matsuoka,' the long-haired woman spoke. 'I'm another friend of Aki's.'

'I'm Jun Wakahisa,' uttered the young man. 'A friend, too.'

'And you two?' the inspector inquired, staring directly at Sherry and Gin.

'We did not know her,' declared Sherry in a calm voice.

'They were already in the elevator when we took it,' Kaori added.

'It was this woman that told us to call the police and the ambulance,' Tora explained, gazing at Sherry. 'She gave Aki some first aid when she collapsed.'

'What exactly?' the inspector demanded, causing Sherry's pulse to speed up. Gin remained perfectly still at her side.

'Basic first aid. I checked her vital signs and put her in the recovery position.'

'You have medical knowledge?'

'Only some basics.'

The inspector nodded, apparently satisfied, and gestured to two police officers right behind her.

'Now, please follow officers Tsukuda and Ueno,' she requested. 'They'll find you all somewhere you can wait in while we work.'

'We too?' Sherry asked tentatively.

'Yes, please. You all will be asked some questions – any piece of information, as insignificant as it may seem, could be crucial.'

Sherry nodded and followed the two men and the long-haired woman, led by two young police officers, across the hall.

'See?' she murmured as quietly as she could. Gin peeped at her. 'That inspector believes the same as I.'

'Are you saying,' he lowered his voice, 'that one of them has tried to kill that woman?'

'Yes. The murderer followed her to check when and whether she died and to dose her further if needed.' Sherry scrutinized the three figures walking a few feet before her. 'The question is who, and how.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As Sherry had mentally predicted, the two police officers were soon joined by some others – three, more precisely. During the interrogations, those three guarded the four suspects that remained in the room, whoever they might be. Inspector Hayashi didn't appear – Sherry presumed she must be working on the case.

The interrogations went quite well, actually. A few minutes after the arrival of the fifth officer, the two first had asked the bearded man (Tora; Sherry was slowly managing to remember their names) to follow them. A while later, they had returned and repeated the process with another suspect, and so forth. Sherry had gone before Gin. In a near, smaller room, she had been asked her name, age and occupation (to which she had given the fake data under which the Organization had registered her for the auction) and the exact circumstances right before, during and after the victim had collapsed, along with their relationship. Very much like their inspector before, the officers seemed satisfied with her answers and accompanied her back to where the others waited.

She had hardly entered the bigger room when Gin was called for.

'The gentleman with long hair. Could you please come with us?'

Walking across the room in opposite directions, they had time only for a quick stare before Gin walked past her and left. The door closed with a thud.

He returned in a matter of minutes. Repressing her wish to run to him, Sherry waited for Gin to reach her instead.

'How did it go?' she asked as soon as he stopped, his face at only inches from hers. Sherry studied his whole figure – the tense posture, the tightly shut lips, the absent look on his eyes caused by fear.

'Well enough.' He lowered his voice, 'No frisk.'

'What reason could they have? And how about the questions?'

'Personal data, relationship to the victim, my version of what happened before and after she fell limp to the floor. Did well.'

Sherry nodded.

'I don't think they suspect of us,' she argued. 'They take us for what we are, mere witnesses. Who would kill a perfect stranger?' Gin made a sad smirk. 'In normal circumstances, I mean.'

'Yeah, I get it.' The grin died away and he peeped at his side. 'So you think that one of those has poisoned that woman?'

'I'm sure. Did they do or say anything suspicious while I was away?'

Gin stopped to think for a moment, after which he shook his head.

'Nothing, really. All three seemed somewhat nervous and kept on talking about how worried they were for that woman, and about the wedding and how badly they wanted to get out of here. I heard them comment that they felt guilty for fetching her drinks from the open bar. And while I was gone?'

'The young man, that Jun or whatever, is getting worse.' She glanced towards their object of discussion, who had recently begun to pace back and forth. 'The other two seem to have calmed down. They've been quiet for a while now.'

'Maybe he had a deeper connection with the woman?'

'Or maybe he's just more emotional.'

'Or he's the culprit.'

A loud wail startled Sherry, preventing her from replying to Gin. The two turned towards the origin of the sound – the young man, who had leaned against a wall.

'I can't stand it anymore!' he shouted. 'Being here, not knowing what's going to happen to Aki!'

'Hush, calm down,' the bearded man pled, standing up from the floor. 'She'll be okay…'

'How do you know?' Jun retorted. He sounded as if on the verge of tears. The police officers gazed at him. 'She shouldn't have come… What if it's her medication? My brother used to take those same painkillers – mixed with alcohol, they can kill you…'

'She stopped taking them weeks ago, after she locked horns with her doctor,' the bearded man explained calmly. 'She told us all, remember?'

'But… he has point, doesn't he?' the long-haired woman spoke. 'What if she had started taking them again? She told us her pains were awful…'

'Yes, and that was right after she stopped taking the painkillers! You work with that kind of stuff,' Jun blurted, addressing the long-haired woman. 'Don't you think she might have started taking them again?'

'Stop it!' the bearded man cut him. 'This is not our work, it's the police's! They'll find out what's happened. It's no use making wild guesses…'

'But those painkillers…'

'And the dose?' the bearded man inquired. Jun shut up. 'I did take antidepressants for a whole year, didn't I? I talked it over with my doctor – the greater the dose, the more likely the meds are to react with alcohol. Aki would have had to take twice her prescribed dose to fall into a coma! So shut it now, will you? You're getting me on my nerves…'

'He's only worried,' the long-haired woman faltered, moving her arms around Jun. Sherry found it obvious that she aimed to reassure herself rather than the young man. 'It is touch and go whether Aki will survive. We're scared.'

The bearded man sat down on the floor next to his friends and sighed.

'So am I,' he confessed. 'I don't even want to consider that Aki might… die. She's like a sister to me. And… all those horrible things… that I told her…'

Both the long-haired woman and Jun knelt beside the bearded man, who had started to cry in silence. The woman caressed his head.

'Everything will be okay.' she whispered. 'She knows you love her. Everything will be okay, you'll see…'

As if wanting to give the mourning trio some privacy, the police officers looked away.

Sherry did not.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A few minutes passed but Sherry couldn't tell whether the bearded man had stopped crying. The long-haired woman and the young man had tightened their embrace around him, shielding his figure from prying gazes.

Not that they would get many. The police officers seemed busy enough chatting among themselves, whilst Gin kept shut down, probably devoting all of his willpower and attention to simply staying calm. Only Sherry still stared at the trio – who didn't seem to notice, anyway.

'Gin,' she called in a whisper, 'what do you think about those three?' He didn't answer. 'Gin.' She turned to him. 'Gin, what do you think?'

It was only when Sherry tapped him on the shoulder that Gin reacted. He blinked, apparently coming back to reality, and glanced at her.

'Are you okay?'

'Yes, I…' he started. 'I'm okay.'

'I know you're not.'

Gin pursed his lips.

'Then why do you ask?'

Sherry raised an eyebrow but, ignoring all the negative reactions that crossed her mind, raised a hand to give Gin's shoulder a comforting rub.

'Don't worry,' she reassured him. 'We'll make it out of this, I swear.'

'You swear?' he questioned, finally turning his face towards her. 'As if you had any control over… anything.'

'What on earth is wrong with you?' Sherry snapped back. She let her hand fall to her side and moved away from him.

Gin made a sarcastic grin.

'What's wrong with me, you ask?' He lowered his voice. 'Things are going downhill, Sherry – it's high time you faced it. And you know what awaits us if things go wrong. I've seen it. I've done it myself. Long-time members killed mercilessly… only for failing at a mission. And you think they'll let us two get away with being caught by the police?'

'Gin, nothing's…'

'Stop it!' he lashed out. 'Do you even believe your own words? I'm sick and tired of this attitude you have today!' Bitterly, he added, 'I thought you were realistic.'

'I am realistic,' she stated, looking fiercely into his eyes. 'And I know we have a chance to make it safely out of this, so I won't give up as easily as you have.'

Just as she had expected, her last words seemed to offend Gin deeply. The man took a menacing step closer to her.

'I… have not… given up,' he grunted.

'Yes, you have,' she debunked, standing defiantly straight.

Gin opened his mouth as if to respond, but closed it again and turned his back to Sherry. She kept still for a moment, watching him wander away from her, and then turned and marched towards the police officers at other side of the room.

A black-haired officer was the first to see her. Sherry waited until the entire group was staring at her and announced, 'I'd like to talk to inspector Hayashi.'

…

Sherry opened her eyes. Someone was coming. She could hear footsteps, hurried and decisive, growing gradually louder. She pictured the pair of shoes producing it. She liked them. She liked the entire outfit, to be fair. Too bad its wearer would (relatively) soon end up in prison.

The footsteps ceased and were replaced by a collection of other sounds: a pair of knees gently meeting the floor, a hand tapping the wall, clay pottery moving, a pair of hands scratching the dirt. Sherry envisioned the black dirt under those short, neat nails.

She pushed a button on the wall and the metallic doors opened.

Blinded by the light coming out of the elevator into the dim corridor, the long-haired woman covered her eyes with one hand. The other remained in the pot before which she kneeled.

'I can save you some time,' Sherry spoke calmly while leaning onto the threshold. 'The glass isn't there. But of course you couldn't notice in the dark.'

'W-What…?'

'A power outage is what the signs all over the fourth floor read. The truth is that the lights have simply been turned off. An idea inspector Hayashi had.'

The long-haired woman moved her raised hand down to her lap but kept quiet.

'Now, correct me if I am wrong,' Sherry started. 'A while after I had left the room, a police officer announced that you all could leave. And up here you came, right to where you four took the elevator in which that Aki passed out.'

'It was a well-thought plan,' Sherry admitted, crossing her arms before her waist. 'Taking advantage of the open bar at the wedding, you drop some drugs into that Aki's drinks. She later falls into a coma and eventually dies. Even if the drugs are found in her bloodstream, she is thought to have taken them herself. An accidental death. You have probably used the same painkillers that she had been prescribed. That young man, Jun or wathever, mentioned you work with 'that kind of stuff.' A pharmacist, maybe? A doctor?'

'The first,' the long-haired woman answered raising her chin. 'But why should that mean I have poisoned Aki?'

'Well, for starters, you had the knowledge needed. And the access to the medication,' Sherry argued. 'And then there's your behavior before and after she passed out. Did you notice that, when comforting the bearded man, you didn't mention the possibility that Aki might survive? You took it for granted that she'd die…'

'And?' the woman replied. 'That's all you have?'

Sherry grinned.

'You wish. If it was, why would we be here?'

The long-haired woman bit her lip.

'You tried to stop Aki from hiding that glass behind this pot,' Sherry recalled. 'Normally, at open-bar parties, as soon as a glass or cup is emptied, a waiter will collect it and send it to wherever they are washed. By hiding hers here, Aki consequently prevented it from being washed. So you tried (unsuccesfully) to stop her – because you knew that this glass held the evidence of your dosing her.'

'And what if my fingerprints are on that glass?' the long-haired woman protested. 'She asked me to fetch her that drink, is it a crime?'

'But it's not the fingerprints.' Sherry tilted her head. 'It's the chemical traces of the drugs.'

The long-haired woman's eyes opened wide at her words and the hand on her lap started to shake. She clenched it into a tight fist.

'You've come here to break that glass. But, even if you had succeeded, there's the recordings of the security cameras. Don't you know? This hotel is filled with cameras,' she added at the woman's shocked expression. 'I bet they caught you dosing Aki's drinks. To do so, you must have had easy, consistent access to the drugs during the party, by the way – you probably sewed a hidden pocket to your dress. One way or another, I'm sure that you're still carrying those drugs, although you're dying to get rid of them. Did you notice that there are no bins in the way from the room where they kept us to here? I had them taken away.'

'But why did I do it?'

'Excuse me?'

'Yes, I've tried to kill Aki,' the woman declared. 'During the party, I dosed every drink of hers I could with painkillers – the ones she had been prescribed, specifically. But why?' she inquired. 'As well as how, you must have found out why. What is my motive?'

'Your motive?' Sherry repeated coldly. 'Honestly, I neither know nor care.'

'What?'

'I'm not the least interested in your relationship to that woman or what led you to want to kill her. I only care about what you've done, and the consequences it has brought about. That's it.'

The long-haired woman made a sad smirk.

'What an interesting police officer you'd make,' she pointed out.

'Me, a policewoman? No, thank you. By the way,' Sherry added, 'speaking of the police, you should know something about inspector Hayashi.'

'Which is?'

Sherry walked out of the elevator at last and, following her plan, the lights of the entire floor turned on. Blinking so as not to blinded, she smiled at inspector Hayashi, who stood right behind the long-haired woman at the head of a numerous group of police officers.

'She's been recording all of this,' Sherry informed the long-haired woman, who turned and stared in horror at the inspector. 'Good luck in prison.'

'Kaori Matsuoka, you are arrested for the attempted murder of Aki Matsushita,' the inspector recited, crouching to handcuff the petrified woman. 'Anything you might say…'

Sherry walked away from the elevator without turning back. There was nothing left for her to do there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sherry still had very little idea how to go back home when she entered the hall of the hotel. She had come on Gin's car, but he must have left as soon as, according to her plan, the police released all suspects. She couldn't really blame him – why on earth would he want to be surrounded by police officers while carrying a one-million-yen bribe and one hundred grams of drugs? Especially not in order to wait for someone he had just had an argument with.

She had nearly reached the front door, having come to terms with the idea of taking a taxi, when a gloved hand clutched her wrist.

She turned, only to find Gin right behind her.

For a while the two stood perfecty still on the tiled floor, staring at each other. People walked past them in a slow but constant stream, occasionally throwing a curious glance or two before they looked away in what Sherry identified as either shame or plain disinterest.

It was Gin who eventually broke the silence, 'You've solved it.'

Sherry kept quiet.

'I just saw Kaori, the long-haired woman, being escorted away by the police, handcuffed,' he explained. 'It's taken you a bit longer to appear.'

'They took the elevator and I took the stairs,' Sherry spoke. 'You've waited for me.'

Gin nodded and let go of her wrist.

'I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I… blew a fuse. I was scared.'

'It's okay.'

'But you were right,' he added. 'I had given up. I didn't want to admit it, but I had truly given up.'

'I was a bit cruel, too,' she acknowledged.

'I needed it, actually – to have the truth slap me on the face, in order to wake up and… well, face it. You know that, sometimes, that's the only thing that'll work with me.'

Sherry gazed down. Gin's hand dangled at mere inches from hers.

'The only reason I refused to give up today is you,' she confessed. 'I had to protect you no matter what. Even when I felt hopeless and wanted to give up, I kept on fighting, every minute, every second – only to protect you. I… I didn't want anything bad to happen to you.'

Gin took a step closer to Sherry – so different from the one he had taken back at the room. She looked up.

A pale blush covered Gin's cheeks as he muttered, 'I love you, too, Shiho.'

Sherry's heart seemed to skip a beat.

'Shall we go?' he suggested with a kind smile.

Sherry nodded her head and swung a timid hand towards Gin. He held it and widened his grin.

Hand in hand, the two calmly made their way out of the hotel. As they crossed the threshold of the magnificent front door, Sherry moved a few inches closer to Gin. She savoured the warmth of his hand against hers, the subtle pulse on his thumb, the quiet sound of his breath.

She smiled.

* * *

 **A/N:**

The core idea for this fic first came to me in **May 2015**. More specifically, at the early stages of working on _**Hokkaido views**_. For a short while I considered having Sherry be sent to the hotel in the fic as a trophy wife that would help strengthen Gin's cover. Although I soon came up with a plot I liked better, the idea of Sherry being sent as a trophy wife started to develop in my mind, with an exciting addition: **to have no other than Sherry save the day.**

I'm not too good with dates, so the only ones I can mention are those I wrote down, but it was at some point during last summer that I started to really work on this fic. However, **it wasn't until early November that I came up with a solid plot** (the one I finally used). By then, I had already looked up and planned how to posion the victim in the murder mystery, although I didn't give her and her friends names until late November. Up to then, I referred to them within the fic using nicknames between square brackets (as I mentioned on Tumblr): 'sturdyman' for Tora, 'youngman' for Jun, 'victim' for Aki and 'murderer' for Kaori. In the end, their names are meaningful as well: 'Tora' means 'tiger,' referring to his physical strength and build; 'Jun' means 'purity;' 'Aki' means 'autumn,' a reference to death, and 'Kaori' means 'scent,' because she uses poison.

But **did Aki die?** To be honest, **I don't know** , just as **I don't know why Kaori tried to kill her.** I planned and decided on everything in the fic except for those specific details. The reason is that **the fic is narrated from Sherry's perspective** and, as she declares in chapter five, **she doesn't really care about the murder itself** , only about its consequences – namely, threatening **Gin's safety**. Gin is what Sherry cares the most, what keeps her going. It is only for his sake that she solves the crime.

There are some things I know of the background of the murder mystery, though. **Tora and Jun** are **like brothers** to her, just as she is like a sister to them. I even considered making Tora her actual, literal brother! Also, as suggested in the fic, **Aki has had a history with substance abuse**. She can come across as rude sometimes, but she's ultimately good-hearted and very loyal to her few true friends, which are roughly the ones in the fic (including the woman whose wedding she is attending). Many people turned their back to her as a result of her substance abuse.

 **Thank you everyone for reading. I hope you've liked the fic!**


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